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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
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Pallone, Casorio bills address state police service fee, disbursement of fines
HARRISBURG, July 1 – State Reps. John Pallone and James E. Casorio Jr. held a joint news conference today at the state Capitol to discuss legislation that would require larger municipalities with no police force to help pay the cost of having Pennsylvania State Police troopers provide law enforcement in their jurisdictions.
House Bill 2563 would require municipalities with a population of more than 10,000 to pay $100 per resident to the state for law enforcement services provided by the state police.
"There are approximately 21 communities in Pennsylvania with populations of 10,000 or more that depend entirely on the state police for local law enforcement," said Pallone, D-Westmoreland/Armstrong. "By charging those municipalities for those state police services, we could generate approximately $40 million, which could be used to hire 4,000 additional state troopers, increasing public safety for all Pennsylvania residents."
Casorio, D-Westmoreland, said municipalities of 10,000 or more are generally large enough to support their own police force.
"Larger municipalities that depend on the state police for local law enforcement don't have to levy taxes to maintain their own police force," he said. "That's unfair to large communities that do provide local police protection, and unfair to residents across Pennsylvania who are paying taxes for the state police to provide local law enforcement in someone else's community.
"This bill would end that free ride, and the money earned could beef up state police ranks so Pennsylvania has more troopers to patrol its highways, fight gang violence and provide important law enforcement services statewide," Casorio said.
Pallone and Casorio also discussed a bill that would use state police fines to help municipalities that support their own police force. Under H.B. 2683, half of revenue from all fines collected as the result of a state police action would be paid to those municipalities that provide their own local police services.
"Under current law, one-half of the fines levied by state police go to the municipality where the offense was committed," Pallone said. "Pennsylvania's large interstate highways cross through hundreds of towns that do not employ their own police forces and instead rely on state troopers for protection. It seems to me that this revenue should go to those municipalities that support their local police departments."
Both bills have received bipartisan support and are currently being considered in the House Judiciary Committee.
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